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Adams Fast 12 Driver & FW Wood Forum Review

SuperStroke
Boom! Last final is done and I'll now be a review machine! I'll be out at some point this afternoon on the course and/or range. Excellent reviews everyone! And to the past poster about the marks on the club....I've seen some tee marks too.
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Tap before talk.
 
Adam0304 said:
Boom! Last final is done and I'll now be a review machine! I'll be out at some point this afternoon on the course and/or range. Excellent reviews everyone! And to the past poster about the marks on the club....I've seen some tee marks too.
a6936153-cbfc-4b82.jpg
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I really can't get the marks off the bottom. Was speaking to the pro at my course and he said he's had a few people come in and ask about the Fast 12 more so older people. He also told me at the end of my review he'd be happy to pull the shaft and swap it for something else and let me try it out to see if that makes a difference.
 
I just wrote a huge review and somehow it never posted, Raging!!!!!! Going to my bed as i'm pee'd off!

Played last night and quite enjoyed the club but the distance is still not there. My friend tested it out who is and Adams *****, he loved the looks but said it did not live up to his expectations. He did not agree with my thoughts that it was not lively off the face but just felt there was no distance. With the high ball flight there is no roll from your drives and we both felt it gave up some distance!
 
Hit a small bucket on the range with a little bit of free time, and boy was my swing bad. I just couldn't get anything going. I just kept hooking and pulling, sending everything left with the 3wood. It was pretty bright and sunny while I was hitting and the silver top is hard to handle without sunglasses on.
 
marshallucf said:
Hit a small bucket on the range with a little bit of free time, and boy was my swing bad. I just couldn't get anything going. I just kept hooking and pulling, sending everything left with the 3wood. It was pretty bright and sunny while I was hitting and the silver top is hard to handle without sunglasses on.
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I just really haven't had any trouble with that to be honest - I've been fortunate to play plenty of sunny golf and it never has distracted me.
 
Steel President said:
I just really haven't had any trouble with that to be honest - I've been fortunate to play plenty of sunny golf and it never has distracted me.
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Same for me, I've played with the Fast 12 in sun and the silver finish doesn't shine to much for me and not much at all compared to my 910F.
 
same here....it's a lighter matte finish to me that doesn't really reflect much at all

Steel President said:
I just really haven't had any trouble with that to be honest - I've been fortunate to play plenty of sunny golf and it never has distracted me.
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Just got the Fast 12 FW with stiff shaft. Hit about 20 balls with at the range. I agree with what some other people have said about it being difficult to feel the difference between slight heel and toe hits. Also, something about the finish on the face makes it difficult to see ball marks. Once I got used to it, it felt pretty good though and it was not difficult to get good launch when the ball was well struck. I didn't find it to cause shots to balloon. Need to hit it some more though.
 
Went to the range today for some MC prep and mistakenly took the Adams Fast 12 driver so I'll post my thoughts from the work I put into it today.

My driver swing wasn't as bad as it has been lately so I saw some better results from previous testing periods. I had a medium-fast tempo today and managed to put some good swings on the ball today. I saw a high ball flight, almost ballooning , that seemed to rob me of some distance. (I was barely putting it out further than my 3w today) Most of my shots were a small fade or a small block which would have been more than playable on the course. I didn't see complete slices or weak pop-ups like I had been experiencing before. Instead of the usual heel shot I seemed to be more around the center or a little high of it. Forgiveness is still about the same, on the heel or on the toe seems to twist the shaft a bit. I think I'm having issues with the weight, or lack thereof, with this. I definitely feel like I swing faster with this as a result of that which I think leads to some overswinging which this driver is really picky about. I seem to 'lose it' in my set up and transition to the down swing where I can't feel it and need to rely on feel to bring the club back and through the impact zone. My best drives were on swings where I really slowed it down and thought about making a slower swing. This is hard to remember to do when things are going well and you want to go after a ball. I still like the overall color of this club and didn't have any issues with glare or anything.

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Shanksville12 said:
Just got the Fast 12 FW with stiff shaft. Hit about 20 balls with at the range. I agree with what some other people have said about it being difficult to feel the difference between slight heel and toe hits. Also, something about the finish on the face makes it difficult to see ball marks. Once I got used to it, it felt pretty good though and it was not difficult to get good launch when the ball was well struck. I didn't find it to cause shots to balloon. Need to hit it some more though.
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That's weird...I can see ball marks very vividly on the face.


Tap before talk.
 
Wednesday 5/2
I’m not going to do a “full” write up of this round because it was 4 days ago and I can’t honestly remember a lot about it. However, I remember standing on the first tee and choking down, swinging smoothly, and putting the ball right in the fairway, about 100 yards, out on a 360 yard par 4. The ball had my new, always there, 5 yard fade and I was content. Five holes later I stood on the tee box and tried to release the club head more as I started hitting more than a 5 yard fade…this resulted in a low pull snap hook that caused me to scratch my head. So now I’m feeling all sorts of lost with the Fast12. I then stepped on to #17 and ripped a ball to a part of the course I’d never seen. The hole is 485 and I was sitting at the 200 yard marker. So now we’ve had a good tee shot, a terrible tee shot, and a great tee shot. I stepped on to 18 hoping to duplicate my success and proceeded to hit a high, weird, slice thing of a shot that made me show off my new and amazing hybrid skills.
It’s frustrating when you can have such highs and lows in the same round. However, the results are definitely there if you can repeat your swing, and for those of you who like distance…I’m typically a 240 kind of guy so seeing a 270 yard drive is not typical. This thing has the distance in it if you repeat the swing and find the screws.
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Thursday 5/3
Range Session
Weather: 82* Sunny, Wind 5-10 mph at back
After the results from yesterday’s round I decided that I’d work on the new swing and try and figure out the driver. I had an above average range session to say the least. I was hitting the majority of my shot on the center of the club face, nothing crazy high, and nothing crazy low. I was seeing my fade with a med-high trajectory. I saw one ball sneak into the woods at the 275 marker (it bounced to get there but it made a short hitter feel pretty BA). I lost a couple to the right and pulled a few which is to be expected from a mid-high handicap like myself. I do see a slight glare on the matte crown but it isn’t distracting. The finish is much brighter than the mashie finish but it isn’t like you’re looking down at a mirror that’s reflecting crazy amounts of sunlight. It shouldn’t bother you or at least it hasn’t bothered me a lot. I also noticed that when hit on the toe the shaft twists which makes me feel like I’m hitting a knuckleball. The ball comes off the face feeling all kinds of funny but it wasn’t stealing a lot of my distance. One of the testers said it was the shaft twisting and I hadn’t realized that’s what it was until I read one of their reviews. The day was a win for the fast12. I planned on taking the VRs out with it the next time we play in the course to see who wears the pants in this driver controversy.
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Saturday 5/5
Weather 74*, Cloudy and crazy humid

Hole 1 (Par 5, 450 yards):
I stepped up with the Adams Fast12 after chipping/putting and put a SAD excuse for a swing on the ball. I hit it way out on the toe, felt the shaft twist, and watched the ball rise and flutter before falling about 30 yards shy of the 200 yard marker….Like I’ve said throughout the review process – this thing isn’t going to fix your swing and that swing would have been penalized by ANY driver ever created.
I unsheathed the VRs and proceeded to hit a ball w/ a lot more solid contact that leaked into the right rough around the 200 yard marker. I hit this about an inch closer to the sweet spot than I did the Fast 12 so don’t read into the crazy difference in distance. (I ended up botching a hybrid, hybrid’ing again, chipping, chipping again, putt, putt for double….yuck.

Hole 2 – Par, Hole 3 – Bogey

Hole 4 (Par 4, 365 Yards):
This hole always gives me trouble because the tee box is aligned the complete wrong direction and therefore you can’t use it as an aid. I hit the Fast 12 again and hit a decent ball into the right hand rough about 230-240. I hit this one near the center of the club face but a bit high for my liking and it came off straight where I was aimed (damn that tee box). The ball didn’t get a lot of roll because of the rough it landed in but it was a solid drive.
I striped the Vrs but forgot to close the clubface down and sent one flying to the right. I’ll say that the Vrs sounds better (IMO) when striping both drivers…I’ll try and get a video of both and you can decide.
I proceeded to hit GW, putt, putt for a nice par.

Hole 5 – Par, Hole 6 – Par

Hole 7(Par 5, 470 yards):
At this point I was feeling it and in competition for lowest round of the day. My buddy Bryan, his grandpa, and I were all within 2-3 shots of each other so the pressure for the day’s bragging rights was beginning to set in. I hit the Fast12 and ripped it down the center of the fairway. The ball took off and began soaring through the air with a slight left to right movement. It landed and continued to roll down the sloped fairway and came to rest about 180 out on a Par 5! I didn’t even hit the Vrs. I wish I’d taken a picture because that thing hit directly on center of the face.
6 iron block, 56* chip, putt, putt for par.

Hole 8 – Par

Hole 9 (Par 5, 500 yards):
Alright so we’re on the last hole and I’m up by two strokes. Bryan tees off and pulverizes a golf ball somewhere past the point of Oblivion. He truly has tour distance and can regularly get the ball out towards 300 if struck well. I had to follow his drive. Trees line both sides of the fairway and I started a ball just inside the left trees that fade and found its home in the right side of the fairway. I’d guess the distance was around 240-250 yards. I’m close to 50 yards behind Bryan so I take out my M3 and gave it a ride. I hit a draw (easiest club to draw) that landed about 60 yards out but found the left rough on a hill. I hit a choked down 56* from off the hill and it drifted right and short (should have known from the downhill lie) and it landed on the front right of the green. By this point Bryan was laying 4 so I had plenty of putts to secure my win but now I needed two putts for a 39. I sent the first putt 3-4 feet past which left a short downhill breaker that I calmly snuck in the right side. The course is easy, short, and lacks a lot of danger but a 39 on any course indicates a pretty darn good day of golf!

Overall thoughts:
The Fast12 was there for me today! I hit the majority of my fairways, hit a lot of GIR’s which was because the Fast12 stayed in the fairway. While the sound, look, and forgiveness isn’t on par with the VRs today it reigned supreme.
- The grip held up phenomenally during crunch time. My hands were sweaty from the weather and pressure but the Fast12 kept my hands in control!
- The more I remember to choke down the better the results. If I don’t, my misses can be left or right and the distance doesn’t increase enough to justify the risk.
- I still love the black face and being able to see where I’m striking the ball.
- The shaft is still meh but it provides me with a higher ball flight which is desirable for someone like me.
- I need to get some more videos of sound/performance.
And lastly, my Piretti Cortino LN is amazing…you should all go and buy one so you can putt like me. Thanks for reading and perhaps I’ll take the camera out today and get some videos/sound clips.
 
Hanks said:
same here....it's a lighter matte finish to me that doesn't really reflect much at all
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Guess I've just gotten used to looking down at the white on the R11 driver and 3 wood.
 
Adam, excellent recaps!

I'm heading out for 18 here soon and will not hesitate to go Fast 12 3W off the tee if the driver goes haywire early.
 
Adams Fast 12 3W Testing
5-6-2012
Linden Hall Golf Course

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Alright, well, today was just an interesting, frustrating, encouraging, and weird day on the golf course. My buddy and I went out to a course called Linden Hall (the site of a very famous mansion in the area). Now, I've heard before that the course has a great layout but is not properly maintained. And, honestly, I was very disappointed to find out that this stereotype held true today. It seems like the folks in charge of the course are trying to make improvements but it's just not going well. Apparently they've tried to install an irrigation system this year and it has failed miserably - the entire front nine was swampy (and it's been warm and sunny here for the last 5 days or so). It was very frustrating. The fairways were ugly on the front, the greens were soaked, and the tee boxes were even swampy. My score reflected my frustrations on the front nine as I posted a really ugly 49.

The back nine was much better. The layout was really fun and the course was in better shape. I shot a 40 on the back and really started to get things going. It was nice. The course itself isn't easy - it plays right around 6500 yards from the whites and features some really long holes. Definitely had some LONG par 4's that made it a real challenge - I felt it. I just wish it were in good shape - would've been a blast.

Honestly, the Fast 12 got off to a rough start for me today but it ended up sparking my round yet again.

So, we'll go through my results with the Fast 12 today!

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Hole #2:
Alright, we're looking at a 520 yard par 5 here. My driver was an absolute mess on the front nine - an ABSOLUTE MESS. I just felt the need to at least try to work it out over the first few holes so I stuck with it initially. I hit a decent drive that hooked a bit. I still had a long way to go to reach the green so I thought it'd be great Fast 12 territory - didn't work out so well. Like I said, the front nine was just in bad shape. The fairways were tough to distinguish from the rough on the front and I ended up hitting a Fast 12 shot sky high - it launched on me. Big time. I could tell righ away that I went right underneath this one and, well, that's exactly what happened. It was really close to being a good hit but it wasn't. That's the way it goes! I ended up chipping in for bogey on this one - never good! I'd much rather be chipping in for birdie, haha, but it just wasn't meant to be on this hole.

Hole #4:
Another par 5 - 500 yards. Surprise - my drive sucked. It was just a crappy snap hook. And that trend carried over to my next effort with the Fast 12. I've been battling a bad hook all season and it emerged from a brief slumber today on the front - it was absolutely killing me. I hooked my second shot with the 3W and it just wasn't pretty. We're talking about a complete operator error here though - my swing has just been breaking down with my driver and woods from time to time this year and it happened early on today. It's a bummer but it's just something that I really need to work on. I just didn't feel comfortable with anything. I know it's lame but the conditions of the front just really got into my head and I think it affected my game.

Hole #6:
This hole is just RIDICULOUS. I felt like I was playing in a US Open - we're looking at a 480 yard par 4 here. Really, really long. Well, I finally decided to put the driver away for a hole and figured I'd be just as well off if I went Fast 12 off of the tee. So, I went with it. And I flushed it. I really felt like this was a bit of a turning point to what had been an absolute disaster of a front nine to this point. I striped it and was left with right around 220 into the hole (it's a downhill tee shot, wind slightly behind my back). I can honestly say that I absolutely striped this one - it had just a nice baby draw with a lovely mid ball flight. It set me up really well to card a solid bogey (solid for the mess that I had been making up to this point). I just took a nice EASY swing and that was key for me - I straightened up my takeaway and caught it flush. It felt good. It built some confidence. And, quite honestly, I should've done it a little earlier.

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So, the front nine was ugly. Like I said, I shot a 49. It was full of bad things. I was hooking everything. I've been having some serious alignment issues this year on the tee box and it reared its ugly head today. The back nine was a bit of a different story though.

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Hole #12:
I felt like I was in a US Open again on this hole - it was a 240 yard par 3. Ridiculous! Slightly downhill though so it seemed like a perfect time for the Fast 12. I hit a really nice tee shot but it just didn't draw back quite like I wanted - it was pin high but I was in some nasty rough to the right of the green. I ended up getting up and down for a par. It was a really shot with the Fast 12 and I once again felt confident with it off of the tee. I didn't think I'd be using my 3W off of the tee on a par 3 today but it was an interesting challenge for me. I felt comfortable with this on the tee box and I think that went a long way - it really showed me just how far a little confidence can go. I still just feel like I don't have to try and crush this club - I just need to put a nice steady swing on and I'll get a really nice result. I like that feeling.

Hole #13:
515 yard par 5. Slightly downhill tee shot. I was feeling a little better with the driver at this point so I went with it off of the tee - it was alright. It didn't hook on me but I still hit it a little off of the toe of the club. I was in the fairway though and in decent position. I pulled out the Fast 12 with my second shot and hit it well - I left myself with right around 50 yards to the green. It was a nice shot from the fairway - I think I caught it pretty flush. No complaints here at all. I had no trouble getting underneath the ball with the 3W from the turf. Definite improvement from the nasty snap hook that I hit on the front.

Hole #18:
350 yard par 4, sharp dogleg left. A driver would carry through the dogleg so I was pretty much left with the Fast 12 as my only option off of the tee. It worked! I hit a nice, tight draw and was right at the top of the dogleg. I was left with right around 135 yards. It was a nice poke that left me right in the middle of the fairway. I'll take that all day! My solid tee shot with the Fast 12 led to me finishing with a par to close up a much better 40 on the back nine.

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The course was so much more enjoyable on the back and I think my score reflected that. Plus, I just started hitting the ball a whole heck of lot better. Like I said, I've been battling all kinds of issues from the tee box this year - I've been hooking the ball far too frequently. That returned early on today and it just was rough. It was rough with the driver, 3W, 5W, and my long irons. However, I feel like I really started to straighten it out after I blasted a tee shot with the Fast 12 on the massive par 4 #6. Definitely turned my round in the right direction. I probably should not have waited that long to go to the Fast 12 3W off of the tee but, well, I'm stubborn.

I probably will play again tomorrow and Tuesday so I should continue to get some solid feedback. It was just a weird day for me today. I felt like the course really got in my head on the front and affected my performance - it made some really bad habits creep back into my game. I'm hopeful to avoid those bad habits in the next few days - I'd just love to put together 18 solid holes. I think I'm capable of an 80 type of score but I just need my game to cooperate from the tee box.

Lots to work on but, well, golf would be boring otherwise. I'll continue to plug away and hopefully give some solid feedback on the Fast 12 3W.
 
Nice write up, SP! Glad your round got turned around in time to play some very solid golf!


Tap before talk.
 
It is going to be hard for me to do it....but tomorrow I'm leaving the J40 at home and getting back to some testing with the Fast12 for Men's League. I'll need to get to the range prior just to get re-acclimated to the lighter weight of this driver but I don't imagine it'll take too much of an adjustment. I'm pretty excited, my driver swing has been way better here the last few weeks so I expect to get some really good testing done. I'll be back with a full report tomorrow night.
 
Date: 5/5/2012
Location: Backcreek Golf Club, Middletown DE
Club Tested: Adams Fast 12 driver 9.5* stock stiff
Previous Club: Ping G20 9.5*
Ball used: Nike 20Xi and Bridgestone B330RX
Weather: 60* and wind

This update will also include a range session from last week. Before my round on Saturday I was able to get to the range once last week and I also had a lesson this past Sunday. Ive been seeing some struggles with the driver and some distance loss across all my clubs. Then throw in the occasional hosel rocket and it was lesson time. What I took from the lesson was that I was failing to get my left hand turned over through impact and the right hip following it. So once out on the range this is what I was to work on. Well it didnt go so well so I ended up only hitting a few balls with the driver. They were all going high and right on me. This has been plaguing me on and off for a while. Specially on the range. For some reason I hit awful on the range but then much better when I play. So as to not get too much negative juices flowing from the range I cut it short.

Saturday I played Back Creek which is a fairly tough course. In the coming weeks they are actually hosting a leg of the US Open qualifier in this area. Played the Fast 12 off the tee 6 times in total and while I didnt hit a lot of FIR my misses were close. Except two holes where one was short and another that I sliced OB. I saw my driving come around pretty strong during the round after starting off really slow. I contribute a lot of that to the Fast 12 being easy to swing and hit. Miss on the wrong spot of the face and it will come up very short though. I maintain its not the most forgiving driver across the face. It really prefers a lower teed ball then higher too. As always seems to be the case my best drive was on the last hole which is par 4 that I hit a nice power fade into the fairway. I was seeing something in the 230-240 yard range which is not what Id like but when its under control I cant complain. Of note during my round one of the two guys I was playing with noticed the Fast 12 and ask if it was the new Adams driver. I said yes and told them both about THP and the testing done here.
 
I spent some time on the range and during a practice round with the Fast 12 3 wood earlier in the week. We just got some brand new range balls and the grass is just about perfect. Lush enough that I can get a nice lie on the turf, which seems to give me a little more confidence with longer clubs.

I hate to say it, but I just can't find any consistency with the club. About the only consistency I find is that I hit it poorly more often than I hit it well. It's sort of frustrating to me because I've always been a fan of Adams Golf products and I was really excited to see what I could do with it. On my best days, I hit it fairly straight and with a nice ball flight, but still see the occasional fatties that are punished pretty heavily. On other days (which are much more common), I really struggle to keep it straight. My standard ball flight on thosed days is really just a slice. Sometimes not too severe, but rarely something that I'd consider playable.

At this point, I can't really justify swinging it on the course because I have no faith that it's going to go where I want it to. Obviously, it's probably more an issue with me than the club, but we just don't seem to be a good match. I know it's a club that can be very good for the right person as I've seen others do very well with it, but it's just not working for me.
 
this is how I feel about the driver....i don't have good feelign about it when I'm at address like I do the 3w

Hawk said:
I spent some time on the range and during a practice round with the Fast 12 3 wood earlier in the week. We just got some brand new range balls and the grass is just about perfect. Lush enough that I can get a nice lie on the turf, which seems to give me a little more confidence with longer clubs.

I hate to say it, but I just can't find any consistency with the club. About the only consistency I find is that I hit it poorly more often than I hit it well. It's sort of frustrating to me because I've always been a fan of Adams Golf products and I was really excited to see what I could do with it. On my best days, I hit it fairly straight and with a nice ball flight, but still see the occasional fatties that are punished pretty heavily. On other days (which are much more common), I really struggle to keep it straight. My standard ball flight on thosed days is really just a slice. Sometimes not too severe, but rarely something that I'd consider playable.

At this point, I can't really justify swinging it on the course because I have no faith that it's going to go where I want it to. Obviously, it's probably more an issue with me than the club, but we just don't seem to be a good match. I know it's a club that can be very good for the right person as I've seen others do very well with it, but it's just not working for me.
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With some of the other clubs in your bag Hawk I can't say I'm too surprised by that. Why do you think you struggle with it so much? I've hit the 3w too a few times actually and have found the results very mixed.
 
Kmac said:
With some of the other clubs in your bag Hawk I can't say I'm too surprised by that. Why do you think you struggle with it so much? I've hit the 3w too a few times actually and have found the results very mixed.
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Man, I just don't know. I've never been a good fairway wood player, but I did hit just about every other one I've had in the last year with better consistency (PING, Cleveland, Maruman, W/S). Maybe it's the shaft, though I don't see how it could be than different than the high launching shafts I usually use. It could also be that I have some different expectations right now too.
 
Hanks said:
this is how I feel about the driver....i don't have good feelign about it when I'm at address like I do the 3w
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I'm in the same boat, I've gotten some decent results on good hits, but can't trust it to perform when I need it to on the course. And confidence is huge for me as I need it a lot in order to play well.
 
agreed....with other drivers I know where the miss is going to be and usually how bad. with this it's too much of an unknown....one thing I know for sure it doesn't like my quicker tempo and I hate having to constasntly tell myself to slow down to hit a club well.

IceyShanks said:
I'm in the same boat, I've gotten some decent results on good hits, but can't trust it to perform when I need it to on the course. And confidence is huge for me as I need it a lot in order to play well.
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Hawk said:
Man, I just don't know. I've never been a good fairway wood player, but I did hit just about every other one I've had in the last year with better consistency (PING, Cleveland, Maruman, W/S). Maybe it's the shaft, though I don't see how it could be than different than the high launching shafts I usually use. It could also be that I have some different expectations right now too.
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It's a very shallow face no? I like the Mashie face a lot more.
 
It's definitely shallower than the Mashie. Pretty similar to the G20 or even the FL from what I remember.
 
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